Fears of the Dark (FRENCH)

(Peurs du Noir)
Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: French Animated Feature Explores Everyday Phobias

Last year, a French film named Paris, je T’aime proved that 20 directors could successfully collaborate on one movie. That picture was comprised of 18 independently-produced, loosely-linked shorts, each of which briefly related a tale set somewhere in the city Paris.
Now, 10 graphic artists have pooled their talents to make an animated feature highlighting a variety of everyday phobias ranging from spiders to dogs to an empty house to things that go bump in the night. Fears of the Dark, also coming courtesy of France, is not a cartoon aimed at kids, but rather a half-dozen relatively-sophisticated vignettes for adults, as it includes a little nudity, sexuality, bestiality and other adult-oriented fare.
Shot in stark black & white, the movie makes effective use of shadows and angles to add to the overall impending sense of dread. The stories ostensibly reflect the worst nightmares of their creators (Charles Burns, Marie Caillou, Romain Slocombe, Richard McGuire, Michel Pirus, Blutch, Lorenzo Mattotti, Jerry Kramsky, Pierre di Sciullo and artistic director Etienne Robial), whose efforts have yielded an innovative flick which figures to delight fans of the genre.
An arresting array of chilling images worthwhile for the scary visual effects alone.

Excellent (3.5 stars)
Unrated
In French with subtitles.
In black & white
Running time: 80 minutes
Studio: IFC Films

To see a trailer for Fears of the Dark, visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mscFpleo49o